musical musings from the frozen north:
torontopia, mont royal city and kawartha kottages

Monday, October 20, 2014

Canadian songbook: Zunior, Oh Susanna, Grey Lands

Canada has always been known as a songwriters’ nation, ever
since the days of Ian and Sylvia, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell and the rest
of Yorkville scored hits via covers of their songs, even before their own
careers took off. (You should read about this scene in Jason Schneider's excellent book Whispering Pines.) And yet, we rarely celebrate our modern songbook: for all the
camaraderie and cross-pollination our best artists do, they rarely, if ever,
cover each other’s work.

Earlier this year, Montreal songwriter Michael Feuerstack enlisted a
bunch of his considerably more famous friends to cover some of his songs. Geoff
Berner did the same thing, assembling a tribute album to himself to help launch
his first novel. This fall, Great Lake Swimmers’ Tony Dekker, Cuff the Duke’s
Wayne Petti and Oh Susanna continue the trend, covering their favourite songs
and songwriters. (See reviews, below.)

I chose to put out that compilation via Zunior, the online
record label and e-retailer run by the Inbreds’ Dave Ullrich. For 10 years now,
he’s been selling independent Canadian music at decent prices (albums are
$8.88), paying artists much more than they’d make through iTunes or other
American outlets. All the major and minor indies are there: Arts and Crafts,
Paper Bag, Constellation, Nettwerk, Kelp, Mint, Secret City, Six Shooter, Sonic
Unyon, Weewerk, You’ve Changed, White Whale, Flemish Eye, and much more—even
Jagjaguwar, a U.S. label with plenty of Canucks on it. If you buy indie
Canadian music, you should buy it from Zunior. It’s also Stuart McLean’s
preferred retailer; all his Vinyl Café products are available there.

Zunior also curates new compilations, usually around Christmas:
one year featured its artists covering the Charlie Brown Christmas album in its
entirety. This year, however, to celebrate its 10th anniversary,
Zunior put out a cookbook, organized a festival, and commissioned a comic book.
Zunior also got their BFF Tony Dekker, of Great Lake Swimmers, to cover some of
his favourite Canadian songs of the last 10 years. The result? It’s almost as
good as my album. ;)

These reviews ran in the Waterloo Record last month.

Tony Dekker – Sings 10 Years of Zunior (Zunior)

Great Lake Swimmers’ Tony Dekker has always tossed out oddball
covers that counter his reputation as a sad-eyed, dreamy crooner. (Perhaps you
once heard him on CBC Radio covering the Dead Kennedys’ satirical classic “Kill
the Poor.”) Here, he celebrates the anniversary of Zunior; their 10years
as a business happen to coincide with an incredible decade of Canadian music,
and so Dekker has plenty of incredible material to choose from.

Other than Chad Van Gaalen and Martin Tielli, neither of whose
work is much different than Dekker’s day job, Dekker goes for the underdogs:
Christine Fellows, The Burning Hell, Rae Spoon, Old Man Luedecke, Ohbijou. He
also gives two nods to Guelph, covering Jim Guthrie’s “3AM” and Jenny
Omnichord’s “Growing Too.” The one WTF moment is a silly and strange cover of
Cadence Weapon’s “Do I Miss My Friends”—you may not think Tony Dekker should be
rapping, and maybe he shouldn’t, but it has to be heard to be believed.

Dekker could have made this record in his sleep; he didn’t. He
invests the same time and care he would on one of his own records; it’s obvious
this is a complete labour of love. It’s also essential listening not just for
Great Lake Swimmers, but for anyone who cares about the Canadian songbook. Your
favourite acts of the last 10 years didn’t, with few exceptions, rise in
isolation. They came from a community, and this is one man’s version of what
that community sounded like. I can’t think of a better man for the job .

For her sixth album, Oh Susanna commissioned her many talented
friends to write songs for her, enlisting Joel Plaskett, Jim Cuddy, Ron
Sexsmith and more. How could she go wrong?

She can’t. She enlisted producer Jim Bryson—who also happens to trump
everyone else here by penning the album’s highlight and opening track, “Oregon”—and
some of the songwriters into her backing band (as well as Kathleen Edwards,
who, sadly, doesn’t contribute a song). Perhaps it goes without saying that
Plaskett writes the album’s other surefire classic, “Into My Arms.” Amelia
Curran, Melissa McClelland (Whitehorse), Old Man Luedecke and Royal Wood also
stand out; Jay Harris’s “1955” has one of the catchiest melodies but some of
the most unfortunate lyrics (it’s a peppy love song with the chorus: “Your
love’s like suicide/ the kind of love you can only buy / 1955.” What do those
three things have to do with each other, and why are they set to a country-rock
anthem?)

Dropping names, stacking the deck, and being shameless about
it—no harm in that, especially with company like this.

Download: “Oregon,” “Into My Arms,” “Mozart for the Cat”

Grey Lands – Songs by Other People (Paper Bag)

Grey Lands is a new solo project for Cuff the Duke’s Wayne
Petti; the title of the debut album is self-explanatory. Here, Petti dips into
psychedelic country in ways I’d been hoping he would ever since Cuff the Duke’s
still-stunning 2002 debut album. Even though he’s doing it by covering some
obvious songs—Bob Dylan’s “My Back Pages” (with Greg Keelor) and “Girl From the
North Country” (with Joel Plaskett), even Sloan’s “Coax Me” (with Mike
O’Neill)—he also digs deep to find obscurity’s like Jim Sullivan’s “UFO” and
Lee Hazlewood’s “Sand” (with Sarah Harmer), and puts his own distinct stamp on
each one. Whether or not Grey Lands starts including Petti’s own songs or not,
the sound he gets here is well worth sticking with.

1 comment:

If you're going to "quote" a song's lyrics. Quote them correctly. "19 and 55". Hint its a lust song, and involves an older women "and her young guy". Pretty straight-up really

Its an unfortunate review of a good song/album

Jay Harris’s “1955” has one of the catchiest melodies but some of the most unfortunate lyrics (it’s a peppy love song with the chorus: “Your love’s like suicide/ the kind of love you can only buy / 1955.” What do those three things have to do with each other, and why are they set to a country-rock anthem?)